Great Gatsby first edition auctions for $2,851

A first edition of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby auctioned alongside works by Dickens and Joyce

A rare first edition of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was among the highlights of a remarkable array of literary classics, several first editions among them, to cross the auction block at Lyon & Turnbull on May 14 and 15.

The book, which has recently been the subject ofa film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio,made 1,875 ($2,851) in the Edinburgh sale- more than doubling its 700 estimate.

Afirst edition of James Joyce's modernist masterpiece Ulysses sold for 4,400 ($6,684).

Interest in the novel is at an all time high as Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation hits cinemas

A lot comprising a first edition of Charles Dickens' popular children's classic A Christmas Carol, as well as seldom seen editions of Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited also sold, bringing 2,700 ($4,097).

The impressive collection was assembled by the late Bruce Ritchie - an English teacher at Merchant Taylor's independent school in London.

Lyon & Turnbull's John Sibbald commented before the sale: "It is astonishing that a private collector could assemble this kind of collection, particularly relying chiefly on a school teacher's salary."